Year 3–4 Seasons

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Teacher Note: These activities have been inspired by the University of Melbourne Indigenous Knowledge Institute resources, available here.

Overview

In this unit of work, we explore the deep connection between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Australia’s diverse regions. Over the years, they have closely observed the life cycles of the plants, animals and creatures, and how they tie with the seasons and how these cycles repeat every year. We investigate two different regions to further enhance our appreciation of nature and culture within the theme. 

4Cs Curriculum Connections for CLIL

CONTENT

This resource addresses the following Content Descriptions from the Victorian Curriculum:
Humanities

  • The diversity and longevity of Australia’s first peoples and the significant ways Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are connected to Country and Place (land, sea, waterways and skies) and the effects on their daily lives (VCHHK078) 

Science (Earth and space sciences)

  • Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the Sun) (VCSSU078) 

COGNITION

  • Understand significant seasonal cycles 
  • Comparing seasons in different places 
  • Creating a calendar applying knowledge of the different seasonsal systems
  • Creating a haiku poem for a Kulin nation season 

CULTURE:

  • Connection to seasons
  • Cultural diversity 
  • Respect for land 
  • Appreciation for nature 

COMMUNICATION:

Language Of Learning

  • 名詞 Nouns： season names – はる、なつ、あき、ふゆ
  • [Season] に [activity]を します 
  • [Season]に [item] を みます 
  • [Season]に [item] を たべます

Language For Learning

  • Language for asking questions eg. どこ？なに？どうして？

Language Through Learning

  • (This is the unplanned language students discover through their learning – e.g., たべません、見ません, しません)

Teaching and Learning Activities

Lesson 1

  • Read a haiku and let students find seasonal words.
  • Brainstorm seasonal words for each season for their own country and Japan.
  • Create a mind map/Venn diagram in groups.
  • Learn names of seasons in Japanese and add these to the mind map. 
  • Make sentences about things students see in each season using:
  • [Season]に [item] をみます。   

Lessons 2 and 3 

Preparation: Create a modified version of the story Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo by Alison Lester in Japanese using the structure: [Season] に [activity]をします。

  • Review season names and sentences from previous lesson using: [Season]に [item] をみます。
  • Make some phrases using: [Season] に [activity]をします。 
  • Read the modified version of the Ernie Dances to the Didgeridoo story and ask students to identify some seasonal markers.
  • Explain that students will work together to create their own version of the story based on things they see and do in the different seasons.

Lesson 4 

Lessons 5 and 6 

  • Compare what people see and do in the different seasons in Melbourne, Japan and locally.
  • Create a calendar which includes this information using the Triple Season calendar template.
  • In the outside ring, write the months in Japanese.
  • On the next ring, write and/or draw what people see and do during the Kulin seasons.
  • On the next ring, write and/or draw what people see and during the 4 seasons of Melbourne.
  • On the next ring, write and/or draw what people see and during the 4 seasons of Japan.
  • Share with the school community.  

Lessons 7 and 8  

  • Students could choose one of the following activities:
    – Write a haiku about one of the seasons. These could be included in a school Haiku contest and/or shared with the school community.
    – Write and illustrate a Kulin nation version of the story ‘Ernie dances to the didgeridoo’ in Japanese and share this with other classes. 

Resources

Triple Season calendar template

Museum Victoria Eastern Kulin Seasonal calendar

University of Melbourne Indigenour Knowledge Institute resources  

Seasons in the sky – Inspiring Victoria

This work is licensed under a 
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This resource embodies traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions shared by Australian Indigenous communities. The information is shared for the purposes of knowledge preservation and general education, and ask that you engage with opportunities to learn from this knowledge and culture respectfully. In drawing on the material, users should consider the relevance and suitability to their particular circumstances and purposes. For more information, and to learn more about Australian Indigenous Knowledge, please visit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander School Curricula